March 28, 2008

FOOD OR FUEL? ACEEE'S "AG FORUM" ENGAGES HARD QUESTIONS

Food or Fuel? This was one of the many questions explored during the "Ag Forum," the second ACEEE Forum on Energy Efficiency in Agriculture. This year’s conference, held in Des Moines, February 20-22, took a hard look at the role of the agricultural producer in energy production, the role of efficiency in food production, and how as a society we can re-think “food and energy from the ground up.”

ACEEE’s 2nd Forum on Energy Efficiency in Agriculture was kicked off on Thursday, February 21st with a welcome address by Iowa Governor Chet Culver announcing the signing of Executive Order Six, which mandates a new Green Government Initiative for the state. The initiative would improve energy efficiency in buildings and increase the use of sustainable materials and biofuels by the state government. Governor Culver said about the initiative, “Iowans have made tremendous strides in recent years to find new forms of renewable energy and reduce our dependence on foreign oil. Now, we must go one step further, and improve energy efficiency throughout the state.”

How do you go about making an agricultural state more energy efficient? The topics discussed over the two-day conference were aimed at coming up with some answers to that question. Sessions dealt with topics ranging from on-farm energy audits to presentations by innovative farmers producing their own biofuels and experimenting with growing organic produce year-round with a minimum of energy inputs.

Many of today’s agricultural trends were challenged, perhaps leaving participants with more questions than answers about how to proceed. Plenary speaker and Moveable Feasts author Sarah Murray challenged the idea of "food miles" as the best indicator of a product’s energy costs, pointing toward the need for full life-cycle analyses. Ethanol has been touted by governments at all levels as the newest solution to the energy straitjacket; however, research presented at the Ag Forum suggests that the simple answer is not always the most energy efficient.

With a growing interest in energy efficiency in agriculture and rural communities, attendees expressed the desire to continue to share their experiences and learn from the efforts of others. ACEEE hopes to facilitate that dialogue by creating an on-line space to share ideas. Visit our Web site in the near future to join the discussion.

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